The PianoThe Piano · learn the basics

start here — no reading music required

Your first notes, chords and tunes.

Learn the seven white-key letters, hear how two notes make an interval, build a few bright major chords, then play two songs you already know — all by ear, right in the page.

works for:Ages 6–9Ages 10–13Ages 14+

the white keys — your seven letters

The white keys are named with just seven letters — C D E F G A B — and then they start over. That's the whole alphabet of the piano. Tap along and say each letter aloud.

The black keys come in little clumps of two and three. To find C, look for any group of two black keys — C is the white key just to their left. Every bold letter on the keyboard above is a C. Those are your landmarks.

intervals — the distance between two notes

An interval is simply how far apart two notes are, counted in keys. Pick one below to light it up and hear both notes together, always measured up from middle C.

Major third4 steps · C · EFour steps up. The bright, happy gap at the bottom of a major chord.

chords — three notes that belong together

Stack a few intervals and you get a chord. The friendliest is the major triad: a root note, a note four steps up (the major third), and a note seven steps up (the perfect fifth). Press all three at once for that warm, complete sound.

C majorC · E · Groot + 4 steps up + 7 steps up = a major triad. Same shape, any starting note.

simple tunes — read the score, watch the keys light up

Now put the notes in a row and you have a melody. Here it is written out properly, exactly as it is printed in a real book. Press play: the note you are hearing turns brass on the stave while the key it lives on lights up below. Then try to copy it yourself, one note at a time.

Twinkle, Twinkle · 4/4, in C — press play and the score follows along

Twinkle, Twinkle
C C G G A A G — F F E E D D C
Ode to Joy
E E F G G F E D — C C D E E· D D